>> steve: last question for you, jeff. >> you want one last question? >> steve: let her rip. >> okay. paul wrote a letter to the church in ephesus. what is the name of the book in the bible based on that letter? >> steve: find out in the after the show show. pakistan. militants firing rockets and hitting the plane used by general martin dempsey. he was not on board at the type. that's where we start. we have the team back together. i'm bill hemmer. welcome to "america's newsroom." you are carrying me. martha: what else is new. get back to the story out of

afghanistan this morning. the attack happened at bagram airbase. two workers were hurt but they will be okay. bill: dempsey talking about the attacks on u.s. and nato forces by afghan troops. you were there last night. what happened? >> reporter: fox news pentagon correspondent and jennifer griffin and steve shelton and i were in bagram for the chairman's visit. at 1:00 a.m. we heard alarms for incoming rocket fire. there was a series of explosions. this is a regular occurrence in bagram. they take a lot of rocket fire, especially during the summer. the report we got the chairman's plane was hit. not serious damage but enough that they chose a different airplane to fly him and his traveling on the tourrage out of afghanistan. injured were two workers taking care of helicopter and a plane in the area. there was a helicopter

damaged. the military says this was not a target on general dempsey. this is the regular incoming fire that bagram and other bases across afghanistan regularly see. i've been to bagram many, many times, it is usual to have rocket fire if bagram particularly during the summer. they like to fire off rockets to disrupt life and wake up troops in the middle of the night. the target they say was not general dempsey. it was more bad luck and coincidence he was there. and everybody was fine. it is unnerving to have rocket fire that close to general dempsey and have his plane damaged during the entire incident. bill. bill: conanother powell, in afghanistan traveling with him. more updates on the trip throughout the day. >> let's get you back here at home to the political scene. congressman todd akin is a name you will hear a lot today. he is standing alone vowing

to stay in the missouri senate race, looming 5:00 p.m. deadline certain to intensify the pressure he is feeling from fell row republicans to drop out. he ignited a firestorm that women's bodies can prevent prg nan sis in the case of a legitimate rape. here is poll getic akin trying to do damage control speaking to mike huckabee on the radio show. >> let me be clear. rape is never legitimate. it is an evil act committed by violent predators. i used the wrong words the wrong way. what i said was ill-conceived and it was wrong. martha: steve centanni on the story, big story in washington. what does this mean for the u.s. senate race in missouri? and ramifications for the presidential campaign as well, steve? >> reporter: well wit is not good news for republican efforts to regain control of the senate. this is one of the key races they have been targeting and they were counting on akin to unseat incumbent missouri senator claire mccaskill.

now the republican senatorial campaign committee according to a commission official will stop funding akin's race, pulling $5 million in advertising society aside for missouri. this definitely hurts the candidate were he to stay in the race for the long haul. karl rove's crossroads gps pulling campaign funding for akin. now senator mccaskill also weighed in on this. here is what she had to say about the controversy. >> he is now in the last few hours, really apologized for what he said and i think what's startling to me is that these party bigwigs are coming down on him and saying, that he needs to kick sand in the face of the republican primary voters. >> reporter: as you mentioned a lot of republican pressure on akin to get out of the race. senate mine nourt leader mitch mcconnell put out a statement. he should take time with his

family to make see whether this statement will affect him from effectivery very much senting our party in this election. gop ticket, mitt romney and paul ryan distancing themselves from representative akin. martha: the clock is ticking on this situation. steve, thank you very much. >> reporter: you bet. bill: we have a new apology from a congressman under fire for swimming naked in the sea of galleon a trip to israel. kevin yoder on a fact-finding trip with republican house members last august a year ago. after dinner and drinks he jump manied in the water about the 20 others. he said he was in the water about the 10 seconds but regrets that decision. >> certainly not an incident i'm proud of. it happened over a year ago. something that was obviously a mistake on my part and i want folks in the district to know that i'm apologetic for it to the extent folks are embarrassed or disappointed in me i certainly feel regret for that. bill: it is quite common.

the sea of galilee the holy site where bible says jesus walked on water for pilgrims to take a dip in the sea but do it with clothes on as opposed to this case. martha: you see inclination to want to do just that. dozens of lawmakers were on the trip. we'll talk to one of them. next hour we'll ask arizona congressman ben quayle who has a different take on his reasons for doing the same. he will be here coming up in "america's newsroom." at 10:30. bill: there is a huge milestone now on wall street. apple is now claiming the title of the largest u.s. company ever based on its stock market value. the tech giant worth more than $620 billion, at the close yesterday, surpassing the all-time high of once bitter rival mike so the. -- microsoft. fox business's stuart varney is on the story. how big is this. >> $625.52 billion. that is the value of apple.

apple is clearly the iconic company in the world today. clearly a global leader. it will have an enormous impact on america's image around the world. bill, i have got to give you the four reasons why apple is the most valuable company ever. number one with, its products dominate their categories. ipod, iphone, ipad. second, the price that apple can charge is much higher than the competition because they're cool. their products are in demand. three, they have an enormous profit margin because of those high prices. and number four, look to the future. they're about to introduce a range of new products including a new iphone right before the holiday selling season. that is why apple is the most valuable american company of all time. bill: some argue apple is carrying entire stock market. >> yes. bill: you could kind of make a case for that couldn't you? >> you could make a case. the nasdaq stock market that specializes in technology

companies, apple is a giant in the whole field and dragged the whole exchange higher. bill: what about facebook? so many praise in the beginning. how is it doing? >> it is not doing well at all. it is half the price when it started publicly trading at $38. it is down to 19. hear is the problem with facebook, bill. nobody has yet worked out how to milk 900 million users of facebook, how to get money out of them. the technical expression is how do you monotize advertise social network. the stock is in the tank. bill: stuart, thank you. see you 9:20 at fbn. a bit of context. martha: here is context to help put all of this into perspective with regards to apple. as stuart just said, it is an eye-popping number, so we'll tell you to you again. 623 1/2 billion dollars. that is the market value of apple. it is worth 17 times as much as ford motor company.

seven times as much as mcdonald's. both iconic brands. apple is more than $200 billion ahead of its next rival. that is exxonmobil, folks. shares of the tech giant already surged some 64% this year. and you think about what steve jobs, you know, created. bill: yes. martha: in this incredible company and it really is the one company that you think of in terms of new, fresh american technology. you can't walk down the street without seeing an apple product in one out of every five or six people's hands. bill: competition out there but so far apple has done very well. we're just getting started. martha: yes we are, bill. very good to have you back. bill: thank you very much. we're back on the bicycle, aren't we? martha: i think so. bill: baffling reports linked to the suicide of a top hollywood director. why the family is disputing all that. that is leading to even more questions. details on that today. martha: you know's cooking? everybody talking about happening at rnc it is the first one up. dnc after that.

details how the gop is crafting one of the big nights and how they're using a presidential gaffe some would call it to do just that. bill: president obama takes to the white house press room and denies his campaign is not going negative. did he forget about the negative ads and comments from his advisor. >> the first victim of the obama campaign is the truth. and it has been, it has been sad and disappointing' gue with nutrition you can see. great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more pcessed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i kn is better nutrition. mmmm. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself.

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martha: film trek tore tony scott's family is denying reports that he had inoperable brain cancer when he committed suicide. the 68-year-old jumped from a bridge in los angeles harbor on sunday. investigators say an autopsy has been completed but the results being held pending further testing. coroner's office says scott's family says he was not suffering from cancer as far as they knew. >> we heard the report of the brain cancer but can you

comment at all about any of that? >> according to the family he did not, to their knowledge, he did not have any issues with any cancers. they don't know where that came from. martha: such a sad story. such a huge successful career for tony scott. investigators say he did leave behind several notes to his loved ones. he had a lovely wife and two beautiful young children that he left behind. it is a tragic --. bill: a lot of work going too. let's move back to the election now. there are indications that the obama team is losing the money race. reports showing that team obama was in the red last month, spending $10 million more than it brought in. the news is not much better when you look at the overall campaign. latest estimates right here, the president's full operation, including the democratic national committee, the dnc, has $124 million. that is $62 million less than team romney at 186 million. none of that includes governor romney's massive

cash advantage from outside political groups. steven mace hayes, senior writer for "the weekly standard", back home in wisconsin. good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: you made a number about points to our producers today. the big question how you use that money advantage. explain what is smart there, steve. >> i think if you're talking about the obama campaign, seems they made a decision very early on that one of the most important things, if the no the most important thing they could spend their money on was to define mitt romney. they wanted mitt romney to look like this super capitalist, bain executive, sort of uncaring politician who would do to the country what they claim he did to bain companies and to the employees thereof. i think they have spent a lot of their money trying to do just that and it was a calculated risk. we'll see if having defined him at that way, they can ride that out through november 6th. it is a big risk. bill: the second point you make is to undo some of the

damage done by the obama team early on. how do you do that? have they been effective do you believe? >> right, this is where i think the $62 million advantage that the romney campaign has could come in handley did i. they are going to hand a lot of money and a lot of time and a lot of money to reintroduce mitt romney. we'll see this starting in tampa next week starting with the republican national convention. they will do this quite a bit in their ads telling who mitt romney is and more importantly laying out the direction he wants to take the country in. bill: for its part the obama team, at some point tv spots reach saturation level. no more impact on voter decided or undecided. that is where the ground game is so critical. what the obama team argues they have a decisive edge in that category. do you see it that way? >> well, look, this is what, this is what people with less money always say. we're really focusing on our

ground game. that is where we have the advantage. now the obama campaign in this regard has credibility because of what they did in 2008. they have a record here. that said the number of voters that they have registered has not, they have not had the kind of advantage that one might have expected them to see or certainly that they had in 2008. the quote i think for the romney campaign, is the saturation question, if he has been defined the way the obama campaign defined him and i think they did a reasonably good job at that, will he be able to undo this by carpet bombing the airwaves in the last several weeks of the campaign in an effort to change the way people are viewing him when, you know, in places like cincinnati or toledo or some of these other swing states they have seen so many ads, at what point do voters tune this out and say enough already? bill: watch the way the money goes in the last 77 days. doesn't that really tell you which key states are more critical than others? perhaps you're gaining

ground in some parts of the country and losing it in others? >> yeah i would argue that is actually maybe the single best indicator of where the at least the campaigns sees their advantage and disadvantages. places they need to shore up and places they want to make a push. it also can be a head fake. if you have got the romney camp wanting to force the obama campaign into spending money someplace like iowa, because they want obama to have to defend that turf, since it is a state he won in 2008, could they make a push there so that obama is not able to spend money elsewhere. bill: six electoral votes in the iowa state. steve, thank you. steve hayes. enjoy green bay, wisconsin. >> thanks, bill. bill: we'll see you soon in tampa. here's martha. martha: a new book out there is getting some attention this morning. it makes some pretty big claims and it says president obama was not the driving force behind the mission to kill usama bin laden. the author claims that there was a hillary clinton intervention. we'll talk about that. >> also a 62-year-old woman

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bill: 22 minutes past the hour now. the national hurricane center upgrading a storm system in the atlantic to a tropical depression. expected to strengthen again to a tropical storm and reach the western caribbean as early as tomorrow. augusta national for the first time in its 80 year history allowing women in the clubhouse. the formerly all male club admitting former secretary of state condoleezza rice and south carolina businesswoman darla moore when it opens for a new

season in the month of october. nasa now plans to launch another mission to mars. the agency deciding yesterday to send a robotic lander to the plant planet in the year 2016 to study what makes its core different from our core here on earth. getting crowded up there, martha. everybody is going. the thing to do. very trendy. martha: 2016. a couple years away. bill: to the red planet we go. martha: exactly. bill: first tampa. martha: first tampa. then the red planet. then charlotte then the red planet. got it? there are new developments we want to bring you this morning on the journey. incredible story we told you about. 62-year-old endurance swimmer, diana nyad. this is her fourth attempt from cuba to florida. we're getting word it may be coming to an end this morning. imagine swimming from cuba to florida in the middle of thunderstorms, and jelly fish. this is an incredible attempt. she has tried it before. phil keating is there in miami.

he has got more on this sounds as if the things that we thought could go wrong here are certainly coming into play here, phil. >> reporter: everything that could go wrong apparently did. after four days, three nights, trying to swim from a hand have to key west. we had severe thunderstorms last night. she suffered numerous painful jellyfish stings. sin burn and icings on the cake, sharks were killering her and her flotilla throughout the night. diana nyad, third attempt on the first person to swim freely in open water, no shark cage from cuba to the u.s. disappointingly two hours ago, 103 mile swim. she made it about halfway after swimming nearly nonstop for 60 hours straight. no sleep whatsoever. but as of this morning, according to the people on her support team, who we have spoken with, she is now out of the water, on a boat. but her face, her lips, tongue all extremely swollen

from the very painful box jellyfish stings. those jellyfish circle in the night and making everything just absolute havoc. martha: she is incredibly strong. i remember when she swam around manhattan. she has done the english channel i believe. she has done the shark cage swims. that might hoped to some ex-stenlt. there were incredible storms in the florida straits. they were described as all breaking loose out there, phil. >> reporter: they caused absolute havoc for nyad and her flotilla making the northward trek. thunderstorms came in. tonls of lightning. waves surged. got treacherous. pushing her off course and east, south, west. finally got back going north. ultimately to no avail as they pulled the plug on the latest attempt two hours ago. here is how nyad described her lifelong quest before jumping into the cuban waters on saturday. >> believe me, there are many deep personal reasons,

athletic reasons, reasons of wanting to feel alive at this age of 62. but alongwith that in total sincerity, is my, my desire to show the connection between this beautiful country and our beautiful country. >> reporter: vanessa lindsey, one of the support team coordinators in the florida keys, telling us everybody is on the boat now. they will now make their way to key west. it will probably take five more hours but they are hoping that diana nyad, who is a very, very driven woman, the day before her 63rd birthday will at least the last stretch, get off the boat and swim to shore for that last little bit. there is a lot of people down there she wants to thank and clearly extremely frustrating and disappointing for her. martha: she said as a little girl she would look across and say, i would like to swim that some day. we wish her well. an incredible story. thank you, phil keating.

bill: think about the technology to help her. the team she has around her. truly disappointing. martha: the technology doesn't help with you in the water and elements. she had quite a ride. bill: sharks, jellyfish and now a storm. scary scene for two young kids aboard a plane has her mother speaking out of the have you heard this? >> i was picturing crashingings having too much weight in the plane and rolling over and burning. bill: why the kids were scolded in midair on board that flight. martha: president obama denying that he is running a negative campaign. >> i think that what is absolutely true if you watch me on the campaign trail, here's what i'm talking about. i'm talking about how we put americans back to work. and there are sharp differences between myself and mr. romney in terms of how we would do that. martha: hmm. is it a negative campaign from the white house? a fair and balanced debate

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can. martha: president obama did a somewhat surprise news conference yesterday and came out and denied that his team is running a negative campaign in his opinion. dismissing the criticism that his attacks on governor romney have crossed a line the president responded to a question about campaign attacks specifically when a top aide called governor romney either a liar or a felon. >> nobody accused mr. romney of being a felon.

there is difference playing by the same sets of rules and doing something illegal. in no way have we suggested the latter. martha: well, is that true? because last month obama's deputy campaign manager stephanie cutter said this. >> either mitt romney through his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his position at bain to the sec, which is a felony, or, he was misrepresenting his position at bain to the american people to avoid responsibility for some of the consequences of his invests. martha: all right. so that is when basically she said he was a liar oar a felon one of or the other of those cases. shoe is the deputy campaign manager that can not be attributed to outside entities. joined by andrea tanteros, daily news columnist. bob beckel. former campaign manager. co-hosts "the five.".

>> food morn. martha: bob, that is one of the most viewed videos. a lot of attention being given to the president's answer in that news conference. what do you think?. >> i think awfully tough sell. the fact is she said what she said. it was on tape. whether he knew it was on tape i don't know. i will give him of benefit of the doubt. clearly implication was he said he was potentially a felon or didn't know or something. but, yeah, it is not, it's a tough one to overcome. martha: you know, andrea, you add it to the list, the other allegation is that he is hiding something about his taxes. david axelrod has referred to the secret taxes of mitt romney and the secret war plan. a lot of secret words are being thrown about. also man who, you know, claimed that his wife died of cancer, that ad has been seen as heavy-handed coming from the campaign. what else is the president supposed to say in that situation? >> well he could actually decry these type of attacks.

he should have come out much sooner than he did yesterday on the ad that accused mitt romney of causing cancer and causing a woman's death but he didn't. he could easily say i don't support these type of ads and asked them not to do it. this somehow excuse that he has nothing to do with his super pac is just baloney and beyond that, martha. running mate joe biden accusing mitt romney and paul ryan of putting blacks back in chains. this campaign has gotten so dirty, it has gotten to just chicago politics where there are no boundaries. and yesterday at that press conference was classic projection on obama's part. you can't make stuff up. i don't say these things. it is not me. no, no. just the people around you on your payroll saying them. i think everything he accused mitt romney of are things he has done himself which are really dirty, negative ads. >> just for the record, biden never said ryan and romney put people in chains. he was talking about banks who have put people in chain.

>>. martha: they want to put y'all back in chains. referring to a policy he claimed would be mitt romney's policy if he were elected president. >> that's right. martha: take a look at the money, this is interesting. the these numbers come from the "washington post." they have to do with negative advertising and the percentage of the money being spent by the campaigns. this is not super pac money. this is campaign money. 51 million so far spent on ads by the obama campaign. 61% of those ads termed negative by "the washington post." we'll look at mitt romney's numbers. much lower in terms of total ad spending so far. they are six million for the romney campaign. 71% of those, of that lower priced number is attributed to negative ads. and i guess, bob, from a campaign perspective, the ultimate question, is it going to work? is it going to turn people off? we already heard numbers of people staying home in larger numbers than last time. >> well, negative campaigns tend to lower turnout. keep in mind what you put up

there. romney as percentage running higher negative ads than obama is. the fact, romney when they asked about his super pac spending said during the primaries i can't do anything about it. i can't tell them not to run negative ads against his opponents. this guy has been hiding and ducking. on taxes let's be serious on this. he is hiding something on taxes. he won't release them. why he won't release them i don't know. now beyond the point of no return. martha: they're releasing two years which is exactly the same thing john mccain did. why is that different, bob. >> different than most other candidates or presidents that released a lot more than. mccain went to two. martha: i don't remember that was a big deal. >> there is no standard. for obama somehow to accuse mitt romney not being transparent. president obama's campaign and his presidency has been as transparent as a wool sock. and bob you talk about mitt romney's soup irpac. mitt romney hasn't gone hard

negative the way president obama has. >> are you kidding me? are you kidding me? >> he kept it on policy. instead david axelrod is saying that romney ryan are a death ticket. death of dying and murder. >> they're out of the gutter. martha: what way? when you look at negative advertising romney side has done, mostly focuses on the hate-filled campaign is what he called it of president obama. you know, he has, we haven't seen to return to some of the stuff we saw last time around for president obama. >> when you call the president of the united states a socialist. >> he did not say that bob. he said -- >> romney campaign has said. >> mitt romney never said it. to your point, martha. >> i see okay not for romney not to say it but his people say it. >> he didn't say it and none of his staff said it. >> that is not true. >> i said it, actually that is true. i'm not with the romney campaign. to your point, martha. i think bob would actually agree here. these negative ads the danger they often do work in

politics. that is how you get things. you take out negative ad campaigns the deferences i think this might actually backfire. i think that they might overreach this time around. >> except, let me make one point. no challenger gone into labor day and higher negatives than positives. mitt romney will be first one. maybe get above it because of his convention. >> take a page out of your playbook. martha: save it for the five. >> we'll save it for the "the five". martha: do you ever call bob's voice mail? see you later. bill: they don't stop. see you at noon, 1:00, 3:00. a mother is fire just at knighted airlines after a flight crew skoded her sons for texting in flight. that is no, no. 12-year-old colin and his 9-year-old brother griffin flying home on their own after visiting their boston in houston the plane turned around in mid-flight because of engine trouble. the boys texted home their mom to let them know.

here is what the families said after the plane landed. >> what if mom didn't know and weapon landed there and we weren't, we didn't, have anyone to pick us up there? they like, grabbed us by the arm, like walking down the jet way they were like, oh you boys are in so much trouble. >> he doesn't deserve that. he was in a vulnerable situation and he needed to talk to his mom. and that's all. bill: in response united says this insuring compliance with federal regulations is a core safety function much our employees and complying with federal safety regulations is not optional. however we expect all of our customers and employees are treated respectfully end quote. and don't touch "words with friends". don't even go near it. martha: alec baldwin route. bill: don't you dare. martha: one of the most controversial comments of the campaign taking center stage at the republican national convention. the theme that republicans are building off of president obama's now-infamous comment. >> if you have a business

you built it. if you got a promotion you earned it. if you made the honor roll you achieved it. in this country we are driven by free people pursuing their dreams. we celebrate success. we do not attack success. i will never apologize for success here or success of america abroad!. [cheers and applause] you've been busy for a dead man. after you jumped ship in bangkok, i thought i'd lost you. surfing is my life now.

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♪ . "we built this city", "we built this city" on rock and roll. bill: keep in mind that song. a preview of next week's republican convention. formally nominating governor mitt romney for president. tuesday night's theme, night number two, based on the following comment from president obama in virginia. >> somebody helped to create this unbelievable american system that we have that allowed you to thrive.

somebody invested in roads and bridges. if you got a business, that, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. bill: so what, tuesday night, night number two, the theme is, we built this. here the author of the new book, who is counting? how fraudsters and bureaucrats put your fund ad risk. john fund. >> thank you. bill: before we get tonight number two. we have night number one. night number one is we can do better. simple themes. how do you frame that? >> our growth rate is 2.3%. that is defined as stagnation. we're adding 150,000 jobs a month. that is barely enough to make up for the increase in the labor force every month. we're not getting any better. unemployment has been over 8% over 42 months. how is that working for us? bill: night number two, we built this. three simple words. the republicans will double

down on the comment you just heard. how will that go? >> remember president obama said that on one of the rare occasions when the teleprompter wasn't there. they wanted him to be more spontaneous with the audience. we know why he has the teleprompter. it is not that he can't give a good speech. he can. without the teleprompter he is tells us what he thinks. this resonates with entrepreneurs and business people who know they work 15 hour days to build their business. entrepreneurs favor mitt romney over barack obama by 20 points in the polls according to rasmussen. government workers favor barack obama by 17 points. clearly the republicans believe, the entrepreneurs, people that create small businesses that higher 80% of new workers will be receptive to that message. bill: in your estimation that is good contrast will be drawn? >> well, obama is going to have the support of people who depend on government support. who work for the government. that constituency is pretty

much locked down. so mitt romney has to go where people are worried that the private economy isn't growing fast enough to hire more people. let's face it, over half the unemployed have been unemployed for seven, eight, nine months or longer. that means the longer they stay out of the workforce, the harder it is for them to get a job. the more unemployment may become permanent. that will make us look like europe. bill: don't want that. you know in 2008 did you know that john mccain hat 39 million people watch his speech? that is a bigger audience than any other tv program out there. academy awards, "american idol." that was a record for a convention speech. >> well we know the undecided voters are probably three to 5% the population. they tend not to pay a lot of attention on politics. they're getting on with their lives die to day but there are some events they do tend to watch. speeches by each of the candidates at convention and debates. i think those will be very significant events. we need to watch the polls after that to see how those undecided voters might have shifted or whether they're still undecided.

bill: what we're watching now is an event near pittsburgh, pa. this is where congressman ryan, it says, we did build it. this is on a theme he mentioned a day ago when he was in new hampshire with mitt romney. we can do better. we built this for night number two. we'll see paul ryan in western parts of pa. that is very critical. we'll explain to viewers in a mat of moments. john fund in new york. 13 minutes before the hour. martha. martha: shocking video taken right off a police dash-cam. what is the possible explanation for this? look at this. bill: sticker shock. nike unveiling its new lebron kicks at a record price. how much would you pay? better yet, how much is too much? you're about to find out. >> don't even think about asking for those for back to

school. don't even think about it. ♪ .

bill: some shocking behavior caught on police dash-cam in florida. pensacola, florida, this is. an officer found a 29-year-old woman next to her damaged car following a report of a nearby hit-and-run. in this video the officer grabs the woman's arm and slams her into the car. the officer later fired, charged with battery. the woman was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, driving under the influence and with no proof of insurance. a whole lot of wrong there. martha: so here's a question for you before the back to

school rush. how much is too much for a pair of sneakers? nike has their new lebron james sneakers after the big gold medal win, they have the nice little gold stripe on them. they're expected to hit stores this fall. record-setting price tag of $315 a pair, mom, how about that? matt mccall, penn financial group. i am not spending $315 on a pair of sneakers. they're hoping somebody will, are they right? >> i think a lot of people will. there will be lines outside the door. unfortunately there will be violence every time they come out with the shoes. martha: a status symbol. >> why there is so much violence, last time they had a big sniker come out, selling on the secondary market online for $700. as an investment, why they're, they had to bring out police in riot gear in florida, last time this happened. this is crazy. a marketing gimmick. their margins have been dropping. costs are going up.

input price. >> they're not going up that much. >> they're not going up that much. overall sneaker sales have risen 9.4% over the last year. that is enormous considering inflation is a little less than 2%. i wear honestly the old chuck taylors, the canvas won. martha: love those. >> green ones. blue ones. martha: bill claims he wore nikes in high school. i don't think nikes were that popular. puma sneakers. this is becoming, it is like if you're going to put your money into one piece of clothing one piece of wardrobe for so many kids this is the thing they want. my question is, will it help nike sales, just off slightly i guess in the last quarter. will it help their sales to raise the prices in this kind of economy? >> i think it will help their margin. they're making much more off this shoe the not like this shoe cost $100 million to make than any other shoe. it just doesn't. lebron name on it. gold medal win. it will probably help sales. overall nike sales.

apparel, everything else. this one sneaker won't help too much. it puts nike on the map as that sneaker every kid wants to have. maybe you can't afford the one for 315 but after ford the one 150. parents will get them nike shoes. it is good for sales. sales in sneakers all around the world, adidas, converse all falling. >> i remember when sneakers we didn't know what they were called. you're little enough, parents buy you sneakers. you put them on and don't know there is a name. >> look at kids two years old with sneakers that cost more than my sneakers. martha: when the kids stepped on them, little lights lit up in the back? maybe this does that. comes with their own electronics. >> measures how high you can jump. martha: that is cool. >> measures how high. i think that is great. still, is it worth $315 to figure that out? shows, martha, the economy is not that bad. it is not great, don't get

me wrong. we're not waiting in line for gas or bread. we're waiting in line for $315 sneakers. that tells you things aren't as dire as people think they are. martha: that people will go out other things to buy $315 sneakers. matt, thanks, interesting. bill: they will break that bank, martha. martha: they tell how high you jump. when that gets a little cheaper, that technology we might go for that. bill: that is going to see. i'm a lot younger than i look. that's why we were wearing them. martha: i know you are. i know you are. bill: check of the markets, aren't we all. check of the markets 25 minutes in. we're trading water, up 25 points. we're waiting on europe to see which domino will fall next. we're keeping eye on that. down slightly on trading on monday. apple has been flying. you saw that, flying really really high. updates throughout the show. martha. martha: global tension rising over the dead lie

violence in syria. president obama's new message for the assad regime. concerns that the violence could spread beyond syria's border. bill: serious fallout from a republican candidates extremely controversial comments about rape. could his refusal to bow out of the race hurt the party come november? people like options.

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martha: this is not going away, an online apology this morning from missouri congressman todd akin for comments he made about rape. calls for withdraw from his senate race continue to intensify. the deadline to do that is 5:00 today. watch this one, folks, we could have breaking news on it this hour as we start a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. good to be back with you. martha: good to have you back. bill: i'm on a bit of a delay

but i'll catch up in time. martha: akin in a tight race under fire from members of his own party. mitt romney calling the comments inexcusable. the congressman made it clear he has no plans to step aside, saying he believes constituents would forgive him. >> i believe there are a lot of people that forgive in mercy, forgiveness and god's love. i made a single error in one sentence. maybe the democrats or certain people won't want to forget that or try to use that as a political weapon. i think the people of missouri are big enough to take a look at the overall package and say, hey, you know, this obama is about to break our country and claire m mckascall is a rubber stamp for him. martha: it seems to me that democrats and constituents in missouri maybe are not the people that mr. akin needs to

worry about in this case. >> this is a nightmare for the republican party. they want to be talking about the economy, as does mitt romney and paul ryan. you have enormous pressure from all fractions of the republican party calling for him to step aside. he stood up to pressure before. a decade baggy he was lobbied heavily to vote for a medicare drug bill by president bush. he voted no. the stakes here are enormous, you have the control of the senate hanging in the balance. this is just a bad day for the g.o.p. if he stays in. >> this is one of those situations where it becomes much bigger than the statement, because as you point out there are so many ramifications. it tells you all you need to know in some case, that claire mckascall wants him to stay in the race, she feels he is

beatable. american crossroads have pulled their money from akin's campaign, that's got to hurt. everybody is really looking at the bigger political picture here and what is at stake. >> go back to 2008, president obama won 365 electoral votes but he lost missouri. this is a seat that republicans are expected to win, or at least were expected to win before these comments. i mean every politician at some point they make some type of gaffe, but this is one republicans are just shaking share heads saying how could he say such a thing. >> claire mckasscall said she wasn't going to make it to the dnc, she's distanced herself in order to win this race, she's been in trouble at home. is there any talk if he does drop out who will replace him and whether the person would be a good contender? >> there's definitely been talked, some of the republicans that were in the primary. businessman john br u.n. e.

joanne emerson. he has until 5:00 today, then it books complicated after that. the easiest decision for the republicans would be for hem to bow out and i'm sure akin is getting a lot more phone calls today. martha: does he stay or go in terms of how you're reading the tea leaves in washington now. >> i think he will probably step aside just because he's going to get so many phone calls today and they know -- even if he does stay in today he can get out later. maybe he sees how the polls go then he'll petition the state to get him off the ballot. at some point i think he bows out. martha: sounds like if he tries to stay in he'll be standing pretty alone. bob, thank you so much. bob cusack, more on that later. bill: congressman ryan were campaigning in western p. a. today, governor mitt romney is in the lone star state of texas,

pennsylvania especially critical of republicans. 20 electoral votes up for grabs there. mike emanuel is on the road following congressman ryan on the trail. he's live in carnegie, pennsylvania now, near pittsburg. how important is that area come november. >> reporter: it's huge. there are a lot more democratic voters than republicans. what the pennsylvania republican party will tell you a lot of these people are reagan democrats who in recent cycles have been coming back to their side of things. there is a lot of buzz about paul ryan coming here today, a lot of people excited and energized that he's been named mitt romney's running mate. as for themes we will hear from ryan, you can expect probably lines similar to this one. >> it's no ordinary election, and the choice is basically

this. we can stay on the same path we are on, a nation in debt, a nation in doubt, a nation in decline, or we can elect real leaders like mitt romney and let this country back on the right track. >> reporter: so, this is energy country in southwestern pennsylvania. a lot of people affiliated with the coal industry feel like the obama administration has been overreaching in terms of regulations. you can expect ryan to hit energy, small business and bringing ban the economy. bill: what are they expecting to hear from paul ryan there? >> reporter: well this small business, for example, was hit very, very hard in the rescission. the president of the company said they almost went out of business, but they fought back. they are doing well. so they are hoping that they will hear from him essentially what he's going to do to help, further help small businesses grow and hire more people. i talked with the president of the company a little earlier, here is what he had to say.

>> the people of this country are worried about the future and where we're going. the government spending seems to be going out of control. we really need to reign that in. >> reporter: and so essentially people here are excited to hear from mitt romney's running mate. this part of the state critical for the republican chances in november. also the lehigh valley in eastern pennsylvania where elvis ihe will visit today also critical. he'll see if he can tighten up the polls where recent polls suggest president obama is leading. a lot of buzz that paul ryan is the running mate and trying to tighten up that gap. bill: thank you for that. on the board behind us check out the billboard from 2008. pennsylvania has been blue for democrats going back to 1988. it was the same way in 2008 when then senator obama beat senator mccain by 11 points. the area mike was talking about in the eastern part of the state it went all blue, all for

senator obama. you get out here to the western part of the state where mike is reporting today. this is pittsburgh, that's al alagany county. it went blue by 16 points. all the red around here, it shows you the strength that ryan and romney, and mccain did four years ago hope to make inch roads. 20 electoral votes on the line in pennsylvania come early november. martha: watch for this conversation to be sort of changing a little bit today. president obama's campaign team is reportedly shifting their focus in the conversation to start picking apart congressman paul ryan's education plan. we're told that they will call the g.o.p. ticket too extreme. look for a lot of talk about pell grants and money that may be taken away. that will be one of the discussions that continues today as well. fox news alert on a dramatic spike in fighting on the streets of syria. government forces storming into one town near the capitol at

dawn this morning. they went into homes according to these reports, they were looking for the rebels to try to smoke them out of these areas. killed at least 23 people in the homes there this morning. steve harrah gone has th harrigan has the latest for us just across the border in turkey where many syrians have gone to escape. president obama had harsh words in his white house briefing. >> the major news were the remarks by president obama when for the first time in 18 months has given a clear warning about possible u.s. military intervention in syria if that regime uses chemical weapons or prepares to move its chemical weapons stockpile. >> we have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region that that's a red line for us, and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons

front or the use of chemical weapons. that would change my calculations significantly. >> reporter: syrian's foreign minister had previously said the regime would only use chemical weapons in case of an intervention by foreigners in syria. martha: you're in turkey, is there a threat in turkey that could spill over from this. >> reporter: martha, that violence is already spilling over from syria. we saw witness to that last night. a car bomb exploded, killed eight, wounded more than 50, another sign that the violence there in syria is already crossing the border. and finally violence against reporters as well. a japanese correspondent was killed yesterday in a gun battle near aleppo. she was driving with members of the free syrian army, the rebel force when she was gunned down by government troops from less than 20 yards away. martha back to you. martha: frightening situation, steve. thank you so much. we'll talk to you soon. bill: watching that story, and

back at home now there is a new book that claimed the driving force behind the mission to takeout osama bin laden was not president obama. that's the claim. >> the only cabinet member with a weekly meeting with the president usually on thursday mornings, and she used that regular meeting, that direct contact to build trust and to drive the agenda. bill: we will tell you who convinced the president according to that book. plus the staff member responsible for delaying that mission as reported. martha: an arizona congressman locked in a tough primary battle fighting back against allegations from his opponent that he took part in inappropriate behavior during the visit to the sea of gallilee. congressman ben quayle has a very different story about his motivations when he was there. he will tell us his story. bill: also devastating wildfires destroying homes in california with others burning in at least your other states. an update on the conditions today, and the victims as they try to cope with their loss. >> everybody is worrying, and

nobody knows really what's going on. >> it's like a death in the family, you know. this is our home to a lot of friends and -- god. anyway, that's how we feel today.

bill: the u.s. military joining forces with south korea to carry out antiterrorism drills in seoul. it started with a mock explosion in an underground train station. that's part of it. authorities say the exercise has helped emergency crews better respond to a chemical or bomb threat. the two-week joint military exercise held every year in north korea has repeatedly said they were going to attack seoul as a precursor to an attack on

the peninsula. martha: necessity say hillary clinton was the driving force behind killing osama bin laden. in his book, it's called "leading from behind" richard miniter explains how clinton convinced president obama according to this narrative to pull the trigger and names the staff member who she says was holding president obama back from carrying out this mission. here is miniter earlier today on fox & friends. >> hillary clinton started off with a very rough relationship with president obama. it was a contentious primary in 2008, and she won him over through dogged hard work and she's the only cabinet member with a weekly meeting with the president, usually on thursday mornings. and she used that regular meeting and direct contact to build trust and drive the agenda. what filtered down to the career people work on the planning when the planning stopped, the planning on the osama bin laden mission stopped, in january,

again in february and march of 201 is that valerie jared had got even cold feet. remember the president meets on a daily basis with skwral rejared. martha: ambassador john bolton joins me now. doug schoen is a form pollster to president bill clinton. thank you for joining us. this is one of those stories, ambassador bolton. clearly the author wants to sell the books. it's an explosive accusation because the president time and time again takes a lot of credit for carrying out and for having the courage to carry out that osama bin laden mission. what do you make of all of this ambassador bolton? >> i have no idea whether any of it is true or not. you have to guard against the temptation to say, i knew what was going on, you knew it was all political. the president's overall record for three and a half years is that he is a weak and inattentive leader when it comes to national security whose decision are far more infused

with political considerations than is praoel i prudent. s really prudent. if this book is mildly accurate it fits this picture. i think it's something to worry about and it's a legitimate issue to talk about. martha: you know the dynamics of the clinton and you were there during a similar moment when the decision was made not to go after osama bin laden. >> well i think what happened, martha in 98 if i remember correctly is there was an attempt to get osama bin laden, they missed, they came close and i was there in the after mav o aftermath of that. i saw the look on the president's face and the national security advisers face when they didn't succeed. i've spoken to secretary clinton about terrorism in general terms, nothing private, but i know how committed she is to eradicating terror, how committed she is to our success in having i think gone after 120,000 terrorists, 35 of whom

hav35,000 of whom have been convicted. i think the president deserves credit. its not like every time you're going to do one of these raids you succeed. if it was a collective decision that produced a positive result with osama bin laden and al-awlaki, it's all good. martha: all of these discussions, a lot of people do come to the table and have their voices heard. >> you know, everybody was responsible for killing osama bin laden. everybody, including the file clerk sitting outside the situation room, as kennedy said, you know, victory has a thousand fathers, and defeat is an orphan. i do appreciate doug launching the hillary for 2016 campaign on fox news. martha: is that what you're doing? >> realistically the planning and work that led to this

success for america had been going on for ten years through the intelligence and military circles. and the issue is when it's finally put in front of somebody in ways that simply cannot be ignored that we have a high degree of confidence where osama bin laden is and we know what to do, at that point failure to act could be almost as politically damaging to a president -- martha: i don't think anybody takes away the credit from the president of course for making that final decision which is obviously a chief executive decision. doug, you know there have been a couple of these books, this one, anded kline put out a book that claims that hillary clinton -- he was reporting recently that hillary clinton was approached about perhaps taking over for vice president biden, and it raises this question of sources. both of these authors swear up and down that their sources are good and i'm wondering if the clinton camp is leaking information about any of this. what do you think? >> i don't think the clinton camp is leaking information, i don't think hillary was ever prepared to run for vice president. i think she's been a loyal and

good secretary of state. and i would say to ambassador bolton, this isn't politics. we've had a great success as a nation. i'm happy to give the bush administration, and the obama administration as much credit as appropriate for a great success, because we're in a war against terrorists. it's not a democratic war or republican war it's an american war. we are committing to winning, secretary clinton is and so is president obama. martha: we'll hear more about this book. thank you both. great to see you both. bill: there was a growing outcry after a u.s. marine is detained for posting anti-government messages online, on facebook. so when does free speech end and psychological evaluations begin we wonder. martha: back to the front yard. remember this story from yesterday, a man being sued by the city for burying his beloved wife in the front yard.

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martha: 24 minutes past the hour on this tuesday. the epic patent trial involving tech giants apple and samsung wraps up today. apple has accused calm sunk of copying iphone and ipad technology and court records are revealing that an effort by the nypd to spy on muslims in and around the city of new york has not generated any leads or actual cases of terrorism. the nypd's demographic's unit has spent the last six years

infiltrating muslim neighborhoods and mosques. that has been quite continu controversial. u.s. doctors are more burned out than any other employees. doctors working in emergency rooms or in family medicine are more likely to be emotionally exhausted, in a study. that is so sad. it's not like it used to be, becoming a doctor. bill: i thought she was talking about journalists for a second, the cynical reporters out there. there is no end in sight for raging wildfires burning in northern california. claims threatening the edge of three small towns, seven homes already taken out. they have been destroyed and thousands now are seeking shelter there. >> i got animals, three cats up there missing. i don't know if they are alive or my house is burnt. >> it's just been overwhelming, just been overwhelming. we're strong, and i pray every night that it's not going to take my home. bill: that is tough to hear.

dan springer is live in redding, california. how much progress are they making there, dan? >> reporter: well, bill, they are making some progress overnight it's now at 35% containment. yesterday it was at 5%. today is a critical day because we are in a red flag warning up until 9:00 tonight. they are expecting winds coming out of the southwest, gusts up to 35 miles per hour. they have really beefed up the manpower, almost 1900 firefighters, that's several hundred more than the number that just contained seven wildfires in san diego county. this fire as you mentioned has destroyed seven homes since it was started by a lightning strike on saturday and is threatening 3500 more. residents in the small towns under siege are grateful for the effort. >> the amount of help everybody is giving is just absolutely amazing. if i could find -- if i could find the crew that saved my

house -- i couldn't tell them enough. >> reporter: a lot of emotion there, bill. in addition to the homes destroyed this is also taking out valuable timber land that's owned privately, bill. bill: it certainly is. is the news any better for the other fires burning in the west? >> reporter: well, it's a mixed bag. you know, we have many, many fires burning in california, over a dozen, and there is one that is actually larger than this one that is also here in northern california, it's about double the size. 73 square miles burning in the plumas national forest. huge fires also in idaho, oregon, nevada, as i said with varying degrees of success. we were on a big wildfire in central washington, that is almost fully contained. that was very devastating, that burned 70 homes and killed a lot of livestock. so the west is definitely not

out of the woods. we are right in the thick of this very bad wildfire season, bill. bill: here we go again, dan springer, thank you out there in redding california. really tough to listen to those homeowners describe their situations. our best to you out there. hang in there. martha: thanks to those helping them out. sounds like they are doing a heroic job. we have an apology to talk about this morning from the kansas lawmaker who admitted skinny dipping in the sea of gallilee during a trip to israel. >> it's not an incident that i'm proud of. it happened over a year ago, and something that was obviously a mistake on my part. martha: another congressman is accused of being there too. ben quayle will join us moments from now. he has his response and explains what he was doing there. that's coming up. bill: also there are new worries about iran this morning after the unveiling of a brand-new weapon. what can this do? it doesn't get any better than endless shrimp at red lobster.

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all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you thousands a year in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. martha: there are new concerns this morning about iran after it unveiled a new missile. the weapon is an upgraded version of their short-range ballistic missile and they claim that it has successfully test-fired earlier this month. teheran says the missile is for defense not aggression. tensions have been running high over the count throw's nuclear program. neither israel or the u.s. has ruled out military action to prevent iran from preventing nuclear weapons. stay tuned for more on that. bill: we shall. there is new fallout this

morning from a swim in the sea of gallilee by members of congress during a trip to israel a yore ago. moral tkpwaeugs -gs of inappropriate behavior by congressman after an apology from kevin yoder who admitted skinny dipping at the holy site for a period of time. >> i made the mistake of diving in. i was in for about ten seconds and got become out. it's obviously a mistake, and something i regret. bill: of the 30 representatives on the trip about half jumped in for a swim at some point. everyone for yoder was wearing their clothes based on the report. my next guest was one of them. arizona congressman ben quayle, member of the homeland security committee. he's with me out of arizona. good morning to you. >> hey bill, how are you. bill: i'm doing fine. i'm going to give you a chance to tell your side of the story. you were in israel august, 2011. what happened when you went to the sea of gallilee that evening. >> i was with my wife who was

eight and a half months pregnant and we were having a great dinner at the sea of gallilee. it was the end of a very long day. some people have been talking about, this is the only opportunity where we'd be able to go into the sea where jesus walked on water. the story that was in politico and the picture that was being really painted was not what i saw, or was around. it was not around when congressman yoder entered the water, it was not in the water or near any of that. but i was able to go in, properly attired, i have to say that, and swim very briefly in the sea of gallilee and i actually was able to take a little vial of water home to baptize my daughter with this water from the sea of gallilee. bill: get me ask a couple quick questions here. were you drinking? your wife was pregnant. were you drinking? >> i had a glass of wine, maybe that at dinner. there was no inappropriate or unusual behavior that i saw. i did leave early. bill: how long were you at the sea a gallilee at that

particular spot? >> the dinner lasted a longtime. i don't know exactly the amount of time. it was basically when my wife said, i'm ready to go home, you don't question an eight and a half month pregnant wife. bill: was it just a couple of minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, what would you say. >> you mean at dinner. bill: after dinner, the trip to the sea of gallilee at the water. >> i was in the water for 30 seconds at most. bill: you went to the sea of gallilee then back to your hotel room? i'm trying to get a timeframe here. >> i went in, got the water, experienced the sea of gallilee. i was not involved in a big group or anything inappropriate. then my wife and i went back to the hotel. bill: just to be clear, did you see kevin yoder at the time when you were there? >> i did not see him in the behavior that he was talking about and he admitted. i was not around that at all. i was already back at the hotel. bill: did the f.b.i. speak to you? >> no that's the one part of the story that was really confusing, because when people started talking about that and the reporter did there was no

questioning of me or anybody else on the trip. and so that's what i think is a little confusing. a lot of people are starting to see that that is getting debunked. i think the "l.a. times" said something, nbc said something that there was no investigation. that is one of the areas where i think the story is completely wrong. bill: eric cantor was with you on that trip. he had a bit of a talking to the next day. what did he say to the group, including you. >> it was the whole group, everybody on the trip. he said let's refocus on what really the trip is all about. bill: all right. and the trip was about -- was it about foreign policy? what was it about? >> it was a couple different things. i think it was an educational trip for us to see the strategic importance of israel and the threats that they face, and it was also for me and my wife it was a very spiritual trip as well because we got to see and visit all of the sites that we had read about in the bible since we were kids. bill: your opponent in this primary that takes place a week

from today is davi is david sw i-k ert. >> it brings back dodge activities that ben quayle was involved in a couple of years ago. bill: what do you say to your challenger? >> it's a nice thing that we are revealing his true colors here. this is a person who has lied continuously during this campaign. and he's trying to take this story that is untrue about me and my wife. i talked to my pastor when i got home about swimming in the sea of gallilee and take water home. this was very important for me and my wife. to make a jump and say something that i was not a part of, nor did i see, it just shows his character at lying which he's a professional at. bill: professional? >> he's a professional liar.

if you look down the history of this campaign you can see that. bill: ben quayle we'll see how this turns out in a week. thank you for your time today, in arizona, with your side of the story. >> thanks, bill. martha: all right. let's go to arizona now where there is a bit of a legal battle brewing. a man is fighting for the right to keep his late wife buried in their front yard. he is 73-year-old jim davis, and he's asking alabama civil court to block a city court order demanding that her remains be moved. david says whether they agree or not he is not giving up. >> this is a woman who raised her family and she wanted to be buried here. it's like being hungry, if people has ever been hungry you get sick inside when you set and think about it and you draw up, and it's a terrible feeling. >> i've went my whole life, i've never been arrested, never had a ticket, never been in no trouble, but that is subject to

change if somebody thinks they are going to come in my yard and start digging up my wife, it ain't happening, not in this century. martha: wow, interesting conflict there. it's alabama by the way, we said arizona at the top. this is in alabama. the city's attorney says that davis buried his wife illegally after councilmembers denied his application. they argue that the front yard grave hurts property values in the area. no word yet on when the appeals court will make a ruling. bill: it's novel. martha: yeah, i mean it's a difficult one to iron out. it's his property. it was his wife's wishess to be buried there. you can see how the neighbors might feel about it. bill: we'll see how that turns out too. we know where he stands on it. a marine veteran arrested for writing controversial posts on facebook. he's getting a lot of support for exercising his right to free speech. but did he go too far? our panel takes on that. martha: two big sides to that one too. we'll take that one. trouble staying afloat. a devastating drought closing

parts of the mighty mississippi river. what do they do now? ♪ rolling, rolling, rolling on the river. oh, yeah, rolling, rolling, rolling on the river. ♪ ♪

bill: work is now underway to reopen an 11-mile stretch of the mississippi near the town of greenville. it's been closed down to low water levels, believe it or not. the u.s. army core of engineers using dredges to dig out sand and insure that the river is big enough for commercial barges to navigate there. >> we've been able to keep the channel open and keep industry running. >> our goal is to keep a 300-foot wide channel open for commerce. bill: they have their work to do there. it's unclear when the river will fully reopen. recent drought conditions have caused water levels to dip to the lowest level in 20 years.

martha: there is new outrage after a former marine is arrested and involuntarily detained in a psychiatric ward for posting some anti-government messages on facebook. several civil rights groups in virginia are saying the police violated the 1st amendment rights of this 26-year-old veteran. according to the police he posted the following message earlier this month. sharpen my axe, i'm here to sever heads. there is a lot more to this whole story. esther pan nich joins me. and fred tesse. martha: there is a state law that allows the emergency temporary psychiatric commitment on the recommendation of a mental health professional in the state, and that's what they acted on. did they do anything wrong,

fred? >> you know what, martha, i don't think they did. let's not forget within the last four weeks a military veteran shot and killed a bunch of sikh pass pasafists. and we have all the recriminations in colorado about saying this guy was going to do something. law enforcement doesn't have the luxury of waiting to find out whether or not this guy is really serious. he has issues, including his theory that our government was involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. he hasn't been arrested, he's been sent down for evaluation, no one has ever gone to jail for an evaluation. martha: it raises the question,ess they are, where is the line of free speech? he wrote this on a facebook page. he did not target any specific individuals, as far as i could tell in taking a look at this story. what are you allowed to say, what are you not allowed to say? >> we have entered the era of thought police. if the police can now come in

based on what you are expressing, as is your first amendment right under our constitution. which, by the way is something this veteran fought for for all of us, then we have now -- there is no line between your ability to criticize the government and now going to jail. in effect he was arrested. this may not be a criminal case, but when you are detained and not free to leave, and sent to a hospital involuntarily, you are being detained. let's not make any mistake about it. if he was free to leave then i would agree he's not being detained, but he is not, and in fact he was placed in cuffs, he was placed in the back of a car, a law enforcement vehicle. martha: because he would not go voluntarily. >> and taken to the hospital. how many people would go voluntarily? martha: his mother says that his free speech has been violated, and that, you know, he saw a lot in the war in iraq and afghanistan, and, you know, that he feels that the u.s.

government was complicit in the september $11th attacks, which is something you mentioned, fred. these things a lot of people would find very, very objectionable. the question is whether or not you're allowed to put them on facebook and is the government allowed to look at what you're putting on facebook and take you into custody. >> if it's on facebook it's public. secondly,ess they are is a great lady, i know herbgs she's a phenomenal criminal defense lawyer and we are lucky to have people like her looking out for our rights. every 8th grader knows you can't yell fire in a crowded movie house. he's made comments that make people concerned that he's going to commit tremendous acts of violence, which we've seen too much of over the last 24 hours. unless they can guarantee he's not going to go out and shoot somebody's head off, law enforcement acted reasonably. martha: he's deteupbd for anothedetained for another

month. in order to arrest him they had to have support of a mental health professional. so you have the doctor, the mental health professional and the judge looking at this whole case says they have to hold him for a month. they must be seeing something, based on those actions that is of great concern to them. >> i'm concerned about the timeline of all of this. my understanding is that the secret service and f.b.i. went to his home to speak to him, not that there was a mental health professional there. my understanding is that he was transported to a mental health facility where someone examined him, presumably at the behest of the f.b.i. and secret service. so my question is, at what point did mental health really get involved? because normally what this statute is used for is for people who go to the doctor and start babbling. i've had clients involuntarily detained because they make no sense. the fact that he is merely criticizing the government and nothing more at this point. martha: i don't think it's merely criticizing the

government to say, sharp he even my axe, i'm here to sever heads. as fred ap aptly points out, what if you look at these other situations in the colorado theater and other places, and they go become and look at what they have written and they say how could you not hav acted when he was writing things like that. that is the concern. >> if there are specific threats, i'm going to sever the head of x, y and z. i'm going to this place on this date, that is an actual threat. martha: actionable issue. >> correct. just like fred mentioned correctly that you can't yell fire in a crowded theater because that's an imminent threat. what this man did without more is not imminent and not actionable. martha: quick last thought, fred then we've got to go. >> it's a balancing act. ess they are is not wrong. at the end of the day i'd rather balance this guy's inconvenience for 30 days over making sure that something terrible doesn't

happen. martha: thank you both. bill: there was a deadly train derailment with 21 cars full of coal falling from an elevated bridge. how did this happen? new details on this in moments. martha: does the rocket still have a little fuel left in the old tank there? what the future could hold for baseball great roger clemens. wait until you here this. folks. ♪ take me out to the ball name. take me out with the crowd. buy me some peanuts and cracker jacs be. i don't care if i never get back. let me root, root, root -- ♪ ♪

bill: we have new information this morning of an on going investigation after a freight

train tee railed in pwoupl. two people were killed and some of the cars were tumbling into a parking lot below. >> the train was on its side and every customer pretty much was outside watching it happen. the coal is across all of main street. no one can get by. people are running across the parking lots, making sure the cars were okay. bill: how did this happen? julie banderas live on this today. good morning. how did it happen. >> reporter: right now it's unclear exactly what caused the crash. that's what investigators are trying to figure out this morning. we are fold that the national transportation safety board is currently looking into it. it happened in elacote city outside of baltimore. it was hauling coal when it derailed while crossing a bridge, killing two people who were standing on the tracks. officials say 21 of the train's 80 cars derailed. some fell from the bridge

crushing vehicles parked in a park, lot below. this morning rescuers brought in trains to remove train cars from the crushed vehicles so they could search for other potential victims. we are told the two people killed were not railroad employees. their identities have not been released. the families have been identified. according to local reports they may have been dean agers. bill: what do we know about the train operators. >> reporter: there were two train operators, both were unharmed. obviously they are talking to these people about the moments that led up to the crash. cleanup crews on the ground hard at work this morning removing all the spilled coal, quite a mess left behind, so that main street, the main drag there can be reopened. according to police meantime the train cars were not carrying hazardous materials, just the coal that we mentioned. i guess that is a bit of good news, but a sad, sad morning outside of baltimore. bill: updates when we get them. thank you, julie. band band in nejulie banderas

in new york. martha: president obama and romney crisscrossing battleground states. they are very busy. karl rove in what we can expect in the run up to both the republican and democratic conventions. ve lately. but because of business people like you, things are beginning to get rolling.

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martha: how about this? baseball legend roger clemens back in the game. he is 50 years old but he is expected to be the new starting pitcher for from a minor league team in texas called the sugarland skeeters. they will be cheering on roger clemens. his agent says he is still clocking an 87 mile-an-hour fastball. that is pretty good. the rocket as he is known, won 324 games for his career in the majors. he is accused of using steroids, something he denied. he makes the minor league debut on saturday